Winter is Coming
by EvilLydia
Summary: Many years ago Winter ruled was a very powerful spirit but he disappeared suddenly. Now Hitsugaya is finding out an odd truth about himself.
1. A Strange Soul

After rereading this chapter I discovered that there were a _lot_ of errors so this is the rewritten version.

Chapter 1 - Winter is Coming

Crimson drops stained the snow as Winter stumbled behind a large boulder. The fight had lasted far longer than he would had liked. Under normal circumstances he would have had more then enough power to end this quickly, but his recent plan with The Man on the Moon had left him weak.

He leaned back. He didn't regret giving pieces of his soul to the Man on the Moon, this would create more spirits and make his work easier. He closed his eyes and let himself slide to the ground. A swirl of energy surrounded him, protecting him from any harm. He condensed his power to preserve it as much as he could. This would also make him smaller physically but that was a consequence he would have to deal with later.

Anukawa was had been in the area because of a hollow attack but a burst of power that he had never felt before washed over him. It was something weird, like nothing he had ever felt before. He made quick work of the hollow and followed the source of the power. It had almost completely dispersed before he found it.

The snow around the area was splattered with blood. He used his own spiritual pressure to feel out for anything in the area.

Aside from the few wild animals, there was only one other. It was small and weak and felt like it could fade away at any moment. Behind one of the big boulders lay a small child. He was curled up on his side breathing heavily. He looked like a lost soul but his chain of fate wasn't there. Besides that, he felt weird. His forehead and the left side of his body were drenched in blood.

Part of his duty was to protect all souls so, oddity or not, he decided to take him back to the soul society. The moment he touched the child it felt like some of his power flowed from his fingertips. He pulled back immediately but it was done and the energy flowed back to him. It didn't seem like it did any harm to him but the child changed. He now felt more like a soul reaper.

It was such a curious thing, it was like he became something completely different, like he changed his very nature. He was trepidatious about touching the child again, but there didn't seem to be anything evil about the spirit. When he touched him again nothing happened. With a sigh of relief, he picked up the child and flashstepped away.

When he brought him back to the Soul Society, he was immediately taken to the 4th division for an examination. While the child was being examined, Anukawa was taken into another room where the Head Captain was waiting to speak with him.

"Explain what happened." said Captain Yamamoto. Anukawa looked slightly perplexed, "The mission was simple but just before I was ready to come back I felt an unusual spiritual pressure." Captain Yamamoto nodded as he spoke. "When I tried to pick him up he absorbed some of my retsu. It passed through him and back to me. But it changed him. I don't know how or why, but he's like a completely different type of being."

Captain Yamamoto looked at him solemnly in thought. "Thank you. I will take care of this now."

Captain Unohana was checking everything that she could about this strange child. He was very odd indeed. When he first came in, his spiritual pressure was somewhat like to a human soul but it was still changing, slowly and there was something off about him. The longer he lay here, the more human he felt. Even his body was changing, his inner organs seemed to be shifting to fit in his body. She could also feel his soul growing stronger, little by little.

She placed her hand on his bare chest, hoping to use her own spiritual power to figure out what was happening with him. He was cold to the touch. She had tried to warm him but his spiritual pressure kept him cold. She decided to let that go. The cold didn't seem to cause him any harm, so she covered him with a simple thin blanket.

Eventually his body began to normalize and his eyes fluttered open. "Hello," she greeted him gently. He looked around confused for a couple of seconds before his gaze landed on her. "You see me." he stated, his voice was weak. There was a deep sadness in his eyes, something lost. She couldn't help but wonder how long he had been dead before he was found.

She went to touch his shoulder, but he pulled back immediately. "Of course I see you." she said, "You are in the Soul Society. It is a safe place for souls." He looked down at his lap, "I'm a soul." he said to himself. "You know me?" he asked. She shook her head, "I'm sorry, this is the first time we are meeting. My name is Retsu Unohana. What is yours?"

He bit his lip and clutched the blanket in front of him. "I cannot remember... nothing. Who I am or where I'm from. I don't know anything. It's all random images but they don't make any sense." His voice was distance, kind of dazed. She thought about it for a moment. Memory loss could be caused by an injury to the head. But she had never heard of it happening to a soul without the interference of another.

Before she could talk with him anymore Captain Yamamoto walked in. "Hello there." The child nodded at him. "I heard that you were brought here under unusual circumstances. Would you care to tell me what you remember?" Head Captain slowly made his way over to his bedside and sat next to him as the boy thought about it.

"I don't remember very much. It was cold and dark." said the boy with a far away look. "I wasn't alone, and we enjoyed each others company but I couldn't trust them." Captain Yamamoto tilted his head slightly, "Do you remember who you where with?" The boy looked up suddenly, like he just remembered that they were there. He was getting distracted easily, like he wasn't able to focus.

The boy shook his head. "Nothing is clear, just feelings I have."

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In order to survive the winter war Hitsugaya had to use his full power. He had been more comfortable as a child but his adult body his its benefits as well. But since he changed there was something that didn't quite fit. It was a feeling that he knew but at the same time it was strange. In his dreams he was met with endless snow and ice. This time he was alone, not even Hyuinmaru was with him this time. This time instead of just landing in a strange world, he had complete control of it. There he was powerful but occasionally he would freeze the room; something he hadn't done since he was very young. Even Kuchiki briefly mentioned that something was off about him.

He was thinking about the situation and came to the conclusion that he needed to know exactly what was happening. If something happened in battle he would end up putting others in danger. He arranged a meeting with Captain Yamamoto.

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Pitch was finally gone, chased away by his own nightmares. It had been just a couple of months when Jack felt something familiar around him. It was hard to sense but at the same time there was something about it that made him think it was powerful.

He couldn't figure out where he felt this before so he went to someone that might know.

The feeling slowly became stronger as he made his way to North's place. Since the Man on the Moon wouldn't talk to him directly, he would have to go through someone else.

When he arrived outside, North was on the roof of his toy shop, looking at the sky for something. Jack gracefully jump down to him, using the wind as a guide. "The Man on the Moon doesn't usually come out during the day, you know." Jack pointed out.

North was smiling while focusing on the sky. "It is not the Man on the Moon that I'm looking for. It seems like Winter has finally woken up."

Jack was a little perplexed about this but in thinking about it, if there could be a spirit for winter fun and for nightmares, why wouldn't there be one for winter itself. "Was he sleeping?" asked Jack. North finally looked at him. "In a way."

He didn't like that answer. It was like North was skirting around the question on purpose. "What does that mean?" Jack asked, a lot more serious this time. North sighed, "Winter is the oldest and most powerful spirit in the world. There was one time that he actually ruled everything. The humans called this the ice age. But he was growing tired and left, sealing his powers and going to sleep. The Man on the Moon took pieces of his power just before he left to create us."

Jack thought about this for a moment before asking, "Why did he come back now? Was it because of Pitch?" North shook his head solemnly. "I do not know his reason, but one thing is clear. Winter is coming."

Jack thought about the way he said that. "It sounds like that it's a bad thing." North laughed, "No, it's not a bad thing, its just that I don't know about him. He had already gone away by the time I had become a spirit." "Then we just have to get to know him." said Jack, jumping on his staff and tooking off.

He was traveling through the air, leaving a trail of ice, thinking about what kind of person Winter would be. He hoped he would be fun like him.

He rested on top of a statue and closed his eyes. He found that if he concentrated hard, he could feel Winter. His presents would grow stronger and fade seemingly randomly.

While Jack was trying to feel him, Hitsugaya was getting ready to come to the world of the living to discover what he is and who he was. It was decided that he would leave for one year. In that time Matsumoto would take over for him and if he either didn't return within that time or reported that he wanted to stay, a new Captain would be assigned to the 10th division.

Hitsugaya had no intention leaving them forever but it was important to have a plan in case something happened. It was a little disconcerning, the idea of going to the world of the living alone. Because that meant that he wouldn't have the Soul Society to back him up if he got into trouble. But he was sure that someone knew about him, he might have been a child then but someone must have known him.

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There isn't a character named Anukawa, I made him up because I needed someone to find Hitsugaya.


	2. The Meeting of Two Winter Souls

I also rewrote this chapter

Chapter 2 - The meeting of two Winter Souls

Jack saw Jamie and his friends on the street and, as curious as he was about Winter, he wanted to talk to them for a bit. "Hey," he jumped down to them.

"Hey Jack," Jamie walked up to him. "What's going on?" asked Jack. Jamie shrugged, "We were just hanging out." For a moment Winter's power shifted, more powerful than before, and Jack noticed. He closed his eyes to try to feel the power again. He was drawn to it. He needed to meet him.

"-ack! Jack, are you there?" the kids were looking at him curiously. "Sorry you guys. I was listening for Winter." "Winter?" asked Pippa. "Yeah," said Jack absently, "He is the oldest and most powerful winter soul." He was feeling for winter.

Jack sighed, trying to think of some way that he could track him down. That was when an odd coincidence happened. Just down the street was a man that looked similar to him, but a little older. He was wandering around, looking for something. Jack had never seen him before but somehow knew exactly who he was.

Jack took a step toward him, "Winter." He meant to call out to him but ended up whispering instead. Winter seemed to notice him immediately. When their eyes met, all the feelings that he had felt before came rushing back to him in full force. This was clearly Winter, there was no doubt.

Winter started walking toward him gracefully. Jack couldn't help but hold his breath. Winter took quick strides towards them.

Once he was standing there, the real Winter was right in front of him, he didn't know what to do. He wanted to say something but he couldn't move. "You know me?" Winter said.

It took him a moment to realize that he was asking a question. "You're Winter, right?" he asked. Winter crossed his arms. It seemed like he was thinking about this.

"So," Jamie came up to him, "You're the spirit of Winter?" Winter looked down at him and then back up at Jack, "Why are their a bunch of human children surrounding you?"

"These are my friends." Jack explained. Winter raised an eyebrow at him. He sighed and looked off into the distance. It seemed like something was moving but at the same time he couldn't see anything.

"You know," said Winter, "you probably shouldn't hang around humans. Its not good for them."

Jack didn't know what he meant and he was going to ask about that but something terrible happened. Before he had a chance to say anything Pitch appeared before him. He was sitting on the rooftop so that he could look down at them.

The children gasped and Jack readied himself for another fight but Winter just gave him a curious look. "There's a face I haven't seen in a while." Pitch said smoothly. "I hope you're not still mad at me."

Winter stepped forward, "Have you given me a reason to be?" He looked as if he genuinely didn't know who Pitch was. But Pitch seemed to know him. That was... unsettling.

Pitch rolled over on the roof, so that he was looking at them upside-down. "So," he said, considering the situation, "you really have forgotten. You really don't know me, do you?" Winter said nothing. Pitch turned right again and smiled like a predator who has just found his next meal, "I'll bet that you don't even remember very much about yourself. Am I right?"

Winter glared at him but didn't answer. Pitch seemed to looked like he thought he was right. That would make his question from earlier make sense. That couldn't be right, could it?

Winter sighed, "You're not going to tell me anything useful, are you?" Instead of waiting for an answer, he started to walk away. Jack started to run after him but Pitch's voice stopped him, "Let him go. If you follow him, he'll just run harder. Winter likes to be in control of who he talks to, and when."

Jack gave him an irritated look and when he looked back Winter was gone. He can't have lost him yet. He just found Winter.

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Hitsugaya didn't really know where he was going. It was a really weird interaction.

He felt like he knew both of those people but at the same time he didn't recognize them at all. Logically, he should have stayed there to find out more information but something told him that it was best to just walk away.

Besides that, he could still feel both of them. He could feel the younger one since he came to the world of the living. He other one, the shadow guy, he could track now that he had felt him.

The shadow guy was more familiar, like he had met him before. But the young guy was also familiar. He was sure that he had never met him before but he knew him... or something about him. None of these souls felt like soul reapers but they weren't lost soul either. They were something different all together.

More importantly, now that he knew what these types of souls felt like, he could feel out some others. They were very different from each other but they all had something similar. They were spread throughout the world, isolated. What he needed to do was go to one of them and find out more. They seemed to think that he was one of them.

He chose the one that was the farthest north. Somehow he was sure that the young guy would follow him.


End file.
